Buying guide

Choosing your Memory Card & Microdrive

Types of memory cards & microdrives

There are options galore in memory cards & microdrives and you need to choose as per your device. For instance, if you intend to increase the storage space in your smartphone or compact camera, a micro SD card is what you require. However, if your device has a compact flash type II slot, then you need a Microdrive. Apart from these two types of storage cards, there are many more that you can consider – secure digital card, memory stick and xD photo card and so on. It is all about looking at your device and then making your buying decision.

Small memory cards & microdrives with large storage space

The beauty of memory cards & microdrives is that they can store a lot of data in a tiny space. Take a look at a micro SD card and you will be amazed that it can store 128GB of data and even more. And since you have the option of storing all your files in memory cards & microdrives, you don’t touch the internal hard drive of your device at all – this means excellent performance. And whenever your external storage device is nearing its capacity, you can transfer the files to your laptop or in cloud and free it up for further use. So, smaller is definitely better in the case of memory cards & microdrives.

How much can you store in memory cards & microdrives?

The storage space can widely differ in memory cards & microdrives. You have drives that can store up to 1GB data to drives that can store more than 512GB data. Consider the type of files you will save and choose your storage space accordingly. And the increase in price is not proportionate to the increase in space and thus, you always benefit when you buy a storage card with more capacity.

Choose the speed for optimal performance

The speeds of memory cards & microdrives also matters – you need to buy these storage cards as per the speed capacity of your device. For instance, if you buy a card with speed up to 10MB/sec and your device only supports speed up to 3.8MB/sec, the speed of the card will be automatically downgraded to the speed of the device. You will end up spending more on a speedier card but will not be able to harness its actual speed. Hence, look at the speed of your device first and then consider the speed of the storage card. Depending on the type of storage card you buy, the speed can vary between 1.2MB/sec and 312MB/sec.

Single or multi-layer memory cards & microdrives?

Some of the memory cards & microdrives have multiple layers. The layers are used by the card controllers. The controllers are used to manage the storage and retrieval of all the data that you have stored in your storage card. The material of the storage card and the architecture of the controller decides the speed, longevity, capacity and energy efficiency of your storage card. It is established that a single layer storage card is better in this regard, but it tends to be more expensive.

How long do memory cards & microdrives last?

You want your memory cards & microdrives to go on and on forever. However, even the best single layer cards can handle up to 100,000 read-write cycles and in some cases, the cycle can be as less as 10,000. Since you don’t want to change your storage card after every couple of months, it is important that you choose one with longevity.

Which memory cards & microdrives for which use?

You are bound to go bonkers when choosing memory cards & microdrives because of the number of options available. However, if you only focus on the top selling memory cards & microdrives, then the options to consider are SanDisk Extreme Pro SDXC 64GB UHS-1, ADATA Premier microSDXC UHS-1 64GB, SanDisk Extreme Pro Secure Digital SDHC 32GB UHS-1, Lexar SDXC Professional 633x UHS-I 64GB and Samsung EVO microSDXC 64GB UHS-1 MB-MP64DA.